What are SMERF Meetings?
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A casual SMERF meeting in the park.
Anyone involved in meeting planning should be very familiar with the needs of Social, Military, Educational, Religious, and Fraternal (SMERF) groups. After all, SMERF meetings are the “old reliable†of the meetings market, continuing even while demand for many other types of conventions and meetings has shrunk. Still, no planner can take SMERFs for granted. Like every other market, the SMERF market has changed and evolved. Successful planners must stay alert. Social Groups It is essential to remember that social groups want more opportunities for togetherness. As always, these groups require careful balancing between limited budgets and memorable experiences. But there are new opportunities too. Family reunions and other social events are no longer limited to a mimeographed letter sent out in the mail to announce the event. Now there are e-vites, Facebook messages, emails, Pinterest, and smartphone apps to spread the news about the event. Unfortunately, this can be both good news and bad news for the social event planner. Cassie Brown, president and CEO of TCG Events, notes that planners for social groups are often overwhelmed by electronic input and burn out. Military Groups Military group members often consider the reunion to be a major vacation. They tend to drive to the location and want more time to sightsee. According to Sharon Danitshek, president of Reunion Friendly Network, other factors to consider include:- Space for memorabilia
- A good hospitality room, preferably one that allows participants to bring their own snacks, alcohol, and other beverages
- A planned banquet for which the group can choose the menu and the portion size
- An appropriate site for a memorial service
Personalization is in. In 2014, Coca-Cola took the 250 most popular names in the United States and put one at random on individual cans and bottles of their product. According to The Wall Street Journal, this campaign was responsible for reversing a decade long decline in US Coke consumption.
Put simply, people like to know it’s all about them. But how do you use personalization to your advantage when you’re planning your meeting?
Tagging It
Take a look at the ubiquitous name-tag. Obviously, you want to provide a pre-printed name-tag for all your registered meeting attendees. And surely, we do not need to remind everyone that the name-tag and all other materials should be in a clear font (put away the script and Old English fonts for another time) and in a type size that does not require binoculars to read.
But what name goes on the tag? Take Josiah Pickford Wellington III, who just happens to go by “Trey.†Do you put his legal name on his name-tag? All his friends and business associates knew him as Trey. Regardless of what name he used on his registration paperwork, which name should appear on his pre-printed name-tag? And shouldn’t he, and not the clerical person preparing the name-tags, be the one who chooses what he’s called?
And what else goes on the name-tag? With some planning from the registration materials, you could determine what the attendee would like to publicize. For example, would he like his email address to be visible? His Twitter handle? The name of the product he is promoting? Or, at the cat fanciers’ convention, a picture of his beloved, pure-bred Persian cat? If you can add information that makes the attendee feel more connected at the conference, isn’t it worth it to you to go that extra mile to discover and share these details?
More Sophisticated Identifiers
Don’t forget the other personalization options you might want to make available at the conference itself. At an extended family reunion, perhaps stickers might be available to identify what state the attendee hails from, or a badge might identify what line of the family tree she is descended from. This would create an instant place to start conversations as the participant meets far-flung relatives. At a large company meeting, perhaps a ribbon identifies whether the participant specializes in the manufacturing side or the sales side of the business. This would allow similarly affiliated attendees to easily find people who share their interests.
Strategically Designing Your Event
There are more ways to personalize an event experience beyond customizing identifiers. For instance:
"In MPI's future of meetings research, architect Robert Hopkins says, 'Flexibility is often badly interpreted as sliding and folding walls where spaces attempt to do many things badly. The key is to be more specific.' We see venues becoming more and more specific in terms of their time and place.
"I believe we'll start to see wider booking windows for corporate events, with more generous budgets and quicker turnaround with decisions and commitments. With so many online booking tools and mobile apps, planners will continue to be more tech savvy and web-based when researching and sourcing their meetings, but there will still be a strong demand for customer service and planner/supplier relationships that will ultimately secure the business."
"The meetings industry is impacted by several global sustainability trends. Food prices have increased over 6% in 2012, and are expected to continue to rise in 2013. Climatic events present risks as well, increasing pressure on companies to manage and reduce their carbon footprint, in addition to having a response plan to emergency situations.
"2013 is all about upping the ante for online social engagement ROI that transfers back to the real world and for businesses to actually reap the results of their marketing efforts. We will see experiential incentives like 
" I think 2013 will see the industry staying as is or a very slow increase in the industry – with the outcome of the 2012 election we continuing to see layoffs in many industries. This slower economy will continue to negatively impact growth in the meetings and events industry. My global clients say that the US economy has an impact on all of their business globally, and that other regions of the world have slowing economies. When the economy is down it impacts our industry as for many meetings and event are deemed to be a luxury. My clients that are not cutting events have continued to scale back the event budget."
"Looking at how social media is evolving to support the business needs of the meetings & event industry, we clearly see three specific trends that have gained significant momentum in 2012 with full expectation of even more in 2013:
"Online engagement skills will transition from being delegated to the youngest person at an organization to being expected of every professional. Suppliers who have established a personal brand and are comfortable building relationships online will be more successful. Meeting planners are being asked to incorporate online elements into all aspects of their meetings (virtual/hybrid, mobile apps, social media) and the ones who have practiced the art of the online relationship will be much better equipped."
"Prediction #1: Budgets will stay tight in 2013, leading to more SMMP development and implementation in corporations, more procurement involvement involvement in meetings, more short lead times, continued emphasis on cutting costs, possibly more local/regional meetings, unique venues.
"The industry's adoption of technology, particularly the digital extension of face to face events, will accelerate. Those extensions in aggregate will drive stronger attendance at market facing events.
"As a result of my experience marketing my 
"I believe one of the biggest trends to affect the meetings industry in 2013 will be the accelerating shift in demographics, as more and more boomers retire and Gen X and Gen Y take over. It's a trend 
"One important new trend we are seeing in meetings is delivering content in new and different ways, whether it’s through CSR and teambuilding activities, TED formats, or the use of technology and social media to engage attendees before, during and after the conference. As a convention and visitors bureau, we are being called upon more often to assist planners in suggesting unique activities – such as for the 
"I believe 2013 will be a good year for the meetings industry. Now that the Presidential election is over, businesses will get back to focusing on sales and growth and meetings are necessary to accomplish such. Company executives are now looking back and seeing that several years of budget cuts on meetings may have helped with incremental improvements in their bottom lines but did nothing to improve top line sales growth."
"Social Media integration seems to have hit prime time this year. Caterers that I work with have all moved to having in house folks working on their social media campaigns or at least making sure they set up a Facebook page. In 2011 people were skeptical, in 2012 they thought it was necessary and in 2013 they will be looking to maximize presence.
"I think that the biggest trend that we will see widespread is the use of mobile applications. More and more, planners are implementing mobile apps into their events. Because there are so many great providers out there, organizations no longer need to develop apps from scratch. They can simply go out to the market and find an app that has features That meet the needs of their attendees. Attendees are starting to expect quick access to information and a high level of engagement and the majority are carrying smartphones making the adoption of mobile event apps easier. "
"This trend in software programming is driven by continued advances in 
"I believe 2013 will continue the trend of short term requests and bookings as our industry continues to be responsive and reactive to creating meaningful meetings and fantastic events. I look forward to seeing how the changes in social media and technology affect our event planning, execution and ultimately the guest experience from marketing to evaluation, and all the touch-points in between. I believe this is something that will be affected partly by generation and adoption phase of both Planner and Participant. 2013 will be a year of evolution, globally and in North America as clients who understand the power of face-to-face meetings, incentive travel and responsible fundraising respond to the economic realities that we are in."
"In 2013, I'd like to see the meeting industry (e.g. meeting planners, in conjunction with technology vendors and providers) pursue App 2.0 for meetings and events. While App 1.0 was successful in providing the basics (session and exhibitor listings, social media integration, some degree of profile matchmaking), App 2.0 goes deeper to enable our mobile devices to be a more valuable and trusted "partner" to make the most of our meeting experience. What does that mean? That's for the industry to determine."
"Social media seems to be the 'go-to' place for networking and making contacts. Personal branding (knowing who you are, what you do and what differentiate yourself from others) is an important step in 2013. It sets you apart from the rest of the pack internally within your organization and externally if you are searching for the next opportunity. Jobs continue to be niche oriented. Medical companies wanting medical meeting planners, financial companies wanting financial planners, associations seeking association planners. Specialties within the niches also have become important."
"In 2013 our industry will need to focus increasingly on transparency and ethics. These are multi-faceted issues, and incorporate everything from ethical bid processes, to the social and environmental impact of our events, to intellectual property in a social media age and to acceptable elements in our events within the global economic context. We've made great progress in recent years in being able to articulate the business value of meetings, and we need to ensure that our actions and professionalism as an industry support the delivery of this message."
"This year has been the year of "content marketing" as organizers start to see the value of promoting the true value of their content rather than relying on the old tried and tested marketing messages. In 2013 content marketing will continue to help the good events differentiate themselves from the bad and the down right ugly. "